Warren Gatland has left experienced trio Alun Wyn Jones, Taulupe Faletau and Justin Tipuric out of Wales' starting line-up for Saturday's Six Nations clash against Scotland.
Wales were beaten 34-10 on home soil by Ireland in their tournament opener last weekend as Gatland's first game back in charge after replacing Wayne Pivac ended in defeat.
Gatland has rung the changes to his pack ahead of facing Scotland at Murrayfield, with British and Irish Lions veterans Jones, Faletau and Tipuric making way.
Jones and Tipuric have been left out of the matchday squad entirely, while Rhys Davies could make his Test debut from the replacements' bench.
Dafydd Jenkins and Christ Tshiunza will make their first starts for Wales, who have also added Tommy Reffell to their back row.
"We created opportunities last week but weren't clinical enough in terms of finishing them off," said Gatland, who has won all 10 matches against Scotland as Wales head coach.
"We need to start better. We gave away stupid penalties and unforced penalties when we weren't really under a lot of pressure so that's been an area that we've spoken about."
Wales have won 13 of their past 15 matches against Scotland in the Six Nations (L2), including six of their seven matches at Murrayfield during that run (L1).
Scotland also named their 15-man team on Thursday, with Zander Fagerson returning to the front row in the only change from the 29-23 victory over England.
Fagerson, who missed the win at Twickenham having only recently recovered from a hamstring injury, replaces the benched WP Nel.
Last week's Calcutta Cup hero Duhan van der Merwe is joined in the back three by Kyle Steyn and Stuart Hogg, who continues at full-back.
Gregor Townsend has also named an unchanged bench, meaning no place in the squad for Hamish Watson, despite recovering from concussion.
Scotland have won their opening Six Nations fixture in each of the past three years, but they went on to lose to Wales in round two in both 2021 and 2022.
However, since beating Scotland in that most recent meeting 12 months ago, Wales have gone on to win just twice in 11 matches, losing their last three in a row.
Scotland XV: Stuart Hogg, Kyle Steyn, Huw Jones, Sione Tuipulotu, Duhan van der Merwe; Finn Russell, Ben White; Pierre Schoeman, George Turner, Zander Fagerson; Richie Gray, Grant Gilchrist; Jamie Ritchie (c), Luke Crosbie, Matt Fagerson.
Replacements: Fraser Brown, Jamie Bhatti, WP Nel, Jonny Gray, Jack Dempsey, George Horne, Blair Kinghorn, Chris Harris.
Wales XV: Liam Williams; Josh Adams, George North, Joe Hawkins, Rio Dyer; Dan Biggar, Tomos Williams; Wyn Jones, Ken Owens (c), Dillon Lewis, Dafydd Jenkins, Adam Beard, Christ Tshiunza, Tommy Reffell, Jac Morgan.
Replacements: Scott Baldwin, Rhys Carre, Leon Brown, Rhys Davies, Taulupe Faletau, Rhys Webb, Rhys Patchell, Alex Cuthbert.
London Irish face suspension from Premiership as deadline looms
London Irish are expected to be suspended from the Gallagher Premiership on Tuesday when the deadline to prove they have the finances needed to operate next season expires.
Irish have until 4pm to either complete a proposed takeover by an American consortium or for owner Mick Crossan to commit to the club for the entirety of the 2023-24 campaign.
As of Monday, the buyout was no closer to being finalised with key documentation including proof of funds yet to be supplied to the Rugby Football Union, while Crossan is intent on severing ties.
Only 50 per cent of the staff payroll for May was paid and the outstanding wages must also be settled if Irish are to take their place in next season’s Premiership.
It was Crossan’s failure to pay the salaries in full last week that persuaded the RFU to extend the deadline by six days in the hope that staff and players would get the money owed to them.
Irish’s outlook deteriorated further on Friday when they were issued with a winding-up petition by HM Revenue and Customs over an unpaid tax bill.
Petitions have been filed against London Irish Holdings Limited and London Irish Rugby Football Ground Limited.
The demise of the Exiles, who finished the Premiership in fifth place, would conclude the darkest season in the history of the English club game after Wasps and Worcester folded because of their own financial difficulties.
Wasps have been demoted to the foot of the rugby pyramid after their new owners failed to secure the funding needed to relaunch in the Championship, while Worcester have gone quiet on their plan of rebuilding from the fifth tier.
Irish have debts in the region of £30million and do not own their own stadium, instead playing at Brentford’s Gtech Community Stadium after a 20-year spell at Reading’s Madejski Stadium.
Bill Sweeney and Simon Massie-Taylor, chief executives of the RFU and Premiership Rugby respectively, were accused by MPs of presiding over a “failure on an epic scale” following the collapse of Wasps and Worcester, but Irish have been given every opportunity to secure their future.
The governing bodies have been forced to weigh the desire to see the Exiles survive with the need to put plans in place for next season, with the reduction of clubs from 13 to 10 requiring a different league structure.
If a third club is lost, the bleak financial climate of the Premiership in the post-Covid era will be highlighted once again with teams able to operate through the funding of benefactors.
Milan 3-1 Hellas Verona: Leao double condemns visitors to Serie A relegation play-off
Milan signed off the Serie A season with a 3-1 victory as Rafael Leao's double condemned Hellas Verona to a relegation play-off with Spezia.
The Rossoneri wrapped up a frustrating campaign on a winning note at San Siro, with a late Leao brace enough to seal three points.
Milan had already secured Champions League football for another term but struggled at times against the visitors, who cancelled out Olivier Giroud's first-half penalty through Marco Faraoni's 72nd-minute strike.
Yet Leao struck in the 85th minute and again seven minutes later, leaving Verona to face a relegation decider with Spezia, who succumbed to a late 2-1 loss at Roma.
Udinese 0-1 Juventus: Chiesa strikes but Bianconeri miss out on top-six Serie A finish
Juventus missed the chance to finish sixth in Serie A despite Federico Chiesa's strike sealing a 1-0 victory over Udinese at Dacia Arena.
After Paulo Dybala's late penalty helped Roma to a 2-1 victory over Spezia, Massimiliano Allegri's side were unable to leapfrog the Giallorossi and were forced to settle for a seventh-place finish in the league.
Chiesa's second-half strike was the difference for Juve, who were deducted 10 points for violating financial rules earlier in a rollercoaster campaign, but they suffered their lowest finish in Serie A for 12 years.
Meanwhile, Udinese finished 12th in Serie A following their 10th defeat in 12 meetings with the Old Lady.
Udinese had lost their last three but went close after just four minutes when Beto somehow headed Florian Thauvin's cross over from inside the six-yard box.
Federico Chiesa’s deflected effort hit the side-netting before Juve saw a headed opportunity go begging as Leonardo Bonucci nodded against the crossbar from seven yards out following Arkadiusz Milik's flick-on.
Chiesa continued to cause Udinese problems down the left flank, yet the sides headed into half-time goalless after a profligate showing from both teams.
Juve squandered a great chance to break the deadlock just after the hour mark, Adrien Rabiot firing wide despite being found by Milik in acres of space inside the box.
But the visitors eventually opened the scoring in the 68th minute, Chiesa receiving the ball from Manuel Locatelli before bending a brilliant shot into the bottom-right corner.
Locatelli and Angel Di Maria went close to extending the advantage and though the single goal was enough, former Juve forward Dybala was to snatch sixth place for Roma from under his old club's nose.
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